Citing various deficiencies in its application, the Federal Aviation Administration has rejected a commercial airline's bid to fly out of Carlsbad's McClellan-Palomar Airport.

The FAA's Western-Region division informed California Pacific Airlines' owner Ted Vallas in an Aug. 7 letter that the airline has failed to meet minimum standards in areas such as safety, maintenance, and inspections. Cal Pacific in its application also failed to answer some questions posed by regulators, and left out at least one required section.

The FAA gave California Pacific a Sept. 13 deadline to resubmit materials. If that date passes, the FAA will officially terminate the certification effort.

"We rejected CP Air's formal application for certification due to a number of deficiencies," FAA Spokesman Ian Gregor said. "We plan to meet with CP Air officials within the next few weeks to further discuss their application."

The rejection is the latest setback for California Pacific Airlines, which has been in the works since April 2010. That was when Vallas, of Rancho Santa Fe, then 91, filed an initial statement of intent with the FAA. He envisioned an airline that would offer nonstop service to San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and eventually Cabo San Lucas.

Cal Pacific CEO John Selvaggio said the airline is in discussions with the FAA about correcting the mistakes and expressed confidence that the issues would be worked out. He said the airline spoke with FAA officials Monday and Tuesday and will continue to do so. He said the airline would be able to meet the FAA's deadline to resubmit materials.

"It's unfortunate that the letter reads the way it is because the tone is pretty harsh," he said. "We are coming to a better understanding of what they were looking for in areas where we're deficient. We certainly have no objection to making changes and a lot of these things are really more along the lines of misunderstanding of guidance. We will make all the changes. "

A voicemail left for Vallas was not immediately returned.

The airline failed four of nine categories in the FAA application, including continual analysis and safety system, minimum equipment list, weight and balance, and operational control. The letter also points out that Cal Pacific cited regulations facing air tour operators in Hawaii, which was not scheduled as a destination for the airline. Finally, it submitted previously rejected documents as part of its latest application.

Cal Pacific planned to run a fleet of 72-seat Embraer jets. Its first plane landed to fanfare at Palomar in July 2012, but sat idle on the tarmac as the FAA initially raised concerns with Cal Pacific's application, returning it to a preliminary phase. The plane, which the airline must have for FAA approval, was eventually subleased to Honeywell in Phoenix, so that investors could recoup the $200,000 they were paying to rent the plane. As of last week, Embraer agreed to freeze the lease so that the airline would not have to continue paying rent until it needs the plane, Selvaggio said.